Wednesday, December 12, 2007

I've posted many times before on how Christians are constantly trying to tear down the wall between Church and state. Until now, I've tried to ignore this little niggling feeling in the back of my head, but I just can't any longer.

Not only do you have to emblazon every piece of currency with "In God we trust", and shove "under God" into a governmentally sponsored pledge, and put your commandments in government buildings, and make every elected official trip over one another to prove themselves the more pious, and force religious nonsense into schools under the guise of science, but apparently, now you need a special resolution of congress to tell you you're special.

You constantly proclaim that your faith is alive and well, and build ever bigger and bigger churches to prove it (which continue to have larger and more incredulous scandals). Could it be that your faith really is on its last leg? Is it so weak that you need the government to validate what you, deep down, know is a bunch of nonsense?

The more stupid crap Christians keep pulling like this, the more I'm convinced it's true. If you're going to pretend to have faith in magical sky daddies, then grow some balls and do it. Don't make other people validate it for you. That's just pathetic.

EDIT: In related news, apparently Chrisitans also so pathetically desperate to keep Christmas Christian (despite it being a stolen pagan holiday), that they will assault someone on the subway for saying "Happy Hanukkah".

Double irony points for the fact that a Muslim was the one that intervened to stop the assault.

16 comments:

Anonymous
said...

How did you draw your conclusion that the people who attacked the Jews on the subway were Christians? Simply because they had tossed out the phrase, "Merry Christmas" and one person in the group (erroneously) said that Hannukah was the day the Jews killed Jesus, does not make the attackers Christians.

Some of us are of course. Some of us do what you accuse us of. Some of us are immature, ethically stunted and IQ impaired (can you tell I'm embroiled in my own tiff with other Christians at the moments :))

But some of us, even though we have our sky daddy, are perfectly fine and generally not pathetic.

I can however, having had dealings with a certain brand of Christian that's very vocal and prominant in the US understand the utter frustration that might lead to generalizations. Or bouts of bashing your forehead against your desktop. Or wishing you could bash THEIR foreheads against your desktop. But I'm letting my own issues seep in again.

P.S. I've got a 9 year old who's got an avid interest in constellations. Any reccomendations on a good book that's an appropriate introduction to the subject?

anon: You're right. I'm sure it was some evil atheists that got upset that their Christmas holiday wasn't the one being mentioned and that it was the Jews that killed their savior.

Dawn: I'm well aware that not all Christians fall into this category. But although some number does oppose such pathetic measures, it's really hard to tell just how many since there are almost none that will speak up against such breeches of the constitution. But given that every time such a breech is fixed, the outcry is overwhelming (I'm thinking specifically of the 10 commandments monument in the courthouse and the Mt. Soledad cross), it seems pretty obvious that the overwhelming majority of Christians does need their faith propped up by the government.

If there truly are more out there that do find it pathetic that so many find faith insufficient and need that crutch, then why do I never hear about this? And even when I do from authors like Boyd in my last post, why do I find them in some ways even more disturbing when they call for the suspension of all rational thought?

So at this point, I've seen a few main brands of Christians:-The ones I refer to in this post that want to impose their faith on others because it makes them feel like their own faith is validated.

-The ones like Boyd that want to feel special by isolating themselves from the rest of the rational world.

-The ones that are so loose about what they accept and don't accept and can rationalize any of the latter bits from their own holy texts that they probably don't even deserve to be called Christian anymore, but rather, some vague sort of Deist.

So if there's really this silent majority of another group out there, I'm still waiting to see it. I've been hunting for it for several years but haven't even seen any proverbial foot prints.

In regards to the question on books on constellations, I have several packed away somewhere at home, but never really looked at them too much. I've always been more interested in the what as opposed to where. I'll have to look into it a bit but I'll try to get back to you on that.

lol @ anonymous: I have no idea what might have induced that inference.

Well put, Jon. It's unfortunate that (in particular) Christianity is still committed to being endorsed as the official religion of the United States. Never mind the general fallacy of the traditional 'god' model (see: Epicurus) when we can just laugh at the quite "worldly" desire for governmental validation.

So, I'm curious..., are you suggesting that only Christians recognize Christmas and would say, "Merry Christmas?" I happen to know several people who celebrate the holiday without claiming to be Christians. In fact, I friends of other faiths who participate in the whole "Christmas" celebration in the secular context of "Santa" or "Father Christmas." I still do not understand why you would jump to the conclusion the attackers are Christians. Sounds like you have an axe to grind and Christians happen to be your target, leading you to view this incident through your own slanted viewpoint.

@anonymous: I believe a big factor in that assumption is not only the 'Merry Christmas' comment, but also the fact that they blamed the Jews for killing Jesus (something Christians generally only do) and the high percentage of Americans who are Christian."Sounds like you have an axe to grind and Christians happen to be your target." Note your analytical skills — the title of the post is Dear Christians: You're Pathetic. Thanks, Captain Obvious, for your points. Jon, please continue.

I find myself wavering in confidence on this issue. On the one hand, I think, "Don't worry. Science, evidence and truth will always win out." On the other hand, I consider the collapse of scientific advance in the Arab world and the ensuing chaos and wonder, "Oh geez. Perhaps a new dark age is just around the corner for us too."

// But although some number does oppose such pathetic measures, it's really hard to tell just how many since there are almost none that will speak up against such breeches of the constitution.//

That's definately something I've noticed too about the US. Granted, I'm an outsider looking in but there's seems to be a lack of more liberal voices in the media regarding Christianity. I wonder if this is from people copping out or also due in part to a media that seems to have accepted the evangelical fundamentalist definition of Christianity without question. If they have questions, they aren't going to John Spong for instance.

I find myself wavering in confidence on this issue. On the one hand, I think, "Don't worry. Science, evidence and truth will always win out." On the other hand, I consider the collapse of scientific advance in the Arab world and the ensuing chaos and wonder, "Oh geez. Perhaps a new dark age is just around the corner for us too."

anon: You're right. I'm sure it was some evil atheists that got upset that their Christmas holiday wasn't the one being mentioned and that it was the Jews that killed their savior.

Dawn: I'm well aware that not all Christians fall into this category. But although some number does oppose such pathetic measures, it's really hard to tell just how many since there are almost none that will speak up against such breeches of the constitution. But given that every time such a breech is fixed, the outcry is overwhelming (I'm thinking specifically of the 10 commandments monument in the courthouse and the Mt. Soledad cross), it seems pretty obvious that the overwhelming majority of Christians does need their faith propped up by the government.

If there truly are more out there that do find it pathetic that so many find faith insufficient and need that crutch, then why do I never hear about this? And even when I do from authors like Boyd in my last post, why do I find them in some ways even more disturbing when they call for the suspension of all rational thought?

So at this point, I've seen a few main brands of Christians:-The ones I refer to in this post that want to impose their faith on others because it makes them feel like their own faith is validated.

-The ones like Boyd that want to feel special by isolating themselves from the rest of the rational world.

-The ones that are so loose about what they accept and don't accept and can rationalize any of the latter bits from their own holy texts that they probably don't even deserve to be called Christian anymore, but rather, some vague sort of Deist.

So if there's really this silent majority of another group out there, I'm still waiting to see it. I've been hunting for it for several years but haven't even seen any proverbial foot prints.

In regards to the question on books on constellations, I have several packed away somewhere at home, but never really looked at them too much. I've always been more interested in the what as opposed to where. I'll have to look into it a bit but I'll try to get back to you on that.